How to Travel around Italy on a Student Budget

More often than not when you’re in a different country for a semester or two you’ll find yourself wanting to travel. It’s possible that you’ll even prioritise travelling over studying on your “study abroad semester” (sorry mum). When you’re away on a spontaneous weekend excursion you get these sort of “pinch me, is this actually real life” feeling and this can happen regardless as to whether or not you’re on a budget.

So if you are like me and many others trying to see as much as possible but have to manage your outgoings wisely, I’ve compiled a little list as to how you can travel on a budget:

Mode of transport:

– Tip number one is to try and book in advance. This is generally always a better way to travel in terms of getting the cheapest price.

– Secondly, GoEuro is a great place to compare planes, trains and automobiles (well busses). And when it comes to comparing flights, Skyscanneris your new BFF.

– If you’re in Europe, Flixbusis a good and affordable way to get around. I’ve used Flixbus on multiple occasions to travel around Italy from city to city and think it’s a super convenient way to get around. A couple of times I have done an overnight bus and they’re not something I would recommend if you want to sleep. However, they’re good if you have a long distance between place to place and you don’t want to waste a day on travelling (especially if you only have 4 days in between classes). They’re also cheaper than transport during the day.

Places to stay:

– Hostels are one of the cheapest accommodation places you can get. I’m still getting to grips with the notion of hostels as they’re something new to me from this year, but if you’re looking to budget they’re great. A good place to look is Hostelworldwhere you can see picture and reviews of places. My favourite one that I have stayed in so far was in Sorrento, it was called SevenHostel. It was as close as you could get to a hotel, included a buffet breakfast and had a rooftop terrace with a great view of the sea.

– Airbnb is usually better when you’re a bigger group of people and you’re planning on being away for longer. Airbnb is great because they come with WiFi, kitchen amenities (you can save money by making food in lieu of going to restaurants), and all the essentials such bedding and towels that you won’t need to bring yourself (more room in your suitcase, yay!)

Extra tips:

– If you’re going to be staying in a hostel, it’s best to bring your own lock. Most places will provide locks but for a fee, so if you’re travelling from place to place, the amount of money spent on just a lock rental adds up.

– Again hostel related is to bring your own towel. It’s another item that a hostel will provide but for a fee. I like to bring is a microfiber towel,mine’s from Decathlon. It’s really practical because it’s small, light and because it’s microfiber it takes no time at all to dry so it’s perfect for when you’re going from place to place.

– Buy snacks. A major outgoing whilst travelling is the food. I like to do is to either stay in a hostel that provides breakfast, so then one meal you don’t have to think about. And if you’re staying somewhere with a kitchen, you can hit up the supermarket before hand and make food there. As I’m mostly travelling around Italy, for dinner it’s really easy to find a cheap pizzeria *thinks about the best 3.50 euro Margarita pizza ever in Naples*.